The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communications, and more particularly to methods and apparatuses for transmitter sharing in multi-subscriber identity module user equipment (UE).
Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and so on. Such networks, which are usually multiple access networks, support communications for multiple users by sharing the available network resources. One example of such a network is the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The UTRAN is the radio access network (RAN) defined as a part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a third generation (3G) mobile phone technology supported by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The UMTS, which is the successor to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technologies, currently supports various air interface standards, such as Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Time Division-Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), and Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA). The UMTS also supports enhanced 3G data communications protocols, such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), which provides higher data transfer speeds and capacity to associated UMTS networks.
As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, research and development continue to advance the UMTS technologies not only to meet the growing demand for mobile broadband access, but to advance and enhance the user experience with mobile communications.
Additionally, some UEs are configured to facilitate communication via multiple unique subscriptions, each being associated with a subscriber identity module (SIM) of multiple SIMs present on the device. In other words, multi-SIM devices (e.g., dual-SIM, dual active (DSDA) or dual-SIM, dual standby (DSDS) devices) may include one SIM associated with a first subscription and a second SIM associated with a second subscription. Furthermore, each subscription may be associated with one or more radio access technology (RAT) types.
In multi-SIM UEs, a single radio resource and its associated transceiver chain may be shared between the individual subscriptions. Furthermore, if one subscription enters a traffic or an access state (e.g., initiates and/or conducts a call) it may be given priority access to the radio resource for as long as the call lasts. As a result, other subscriptions of the UE will be unable to initiate a call, transmit measurement reports, receive signaling messages, or transmit responses to these signaling messages during the call so long as the shared radio resource gives priority to the subscription conducting the call.
Thus, as multi-SIM and/or multi-RAT UEs share limited communications resources, there is a need for methods and apparatuses to allow for non-call subscriptions of the UE to utilize the shared radio resource during a call on another subscription.